The use of stable isotopes is applicable to a broad range of scientific research and is strategically important to industries in the United States. Separated stable isotopes are widely used in medical and other industrial applications. In the medical industry they can be used as radioactive precursors for imaging, diagnostics and therapeutics in PET scanning and cancer treatment applications. Separated isotopes can also be used as specialized materials in nuclear power plants (non-fuel), nuclear batteries, semiconductors, electronics and non-destructive testing equipment.
The supply of enriched stable isotopes is inadequate to accommodate the rapidly growing demand in the United States. Current domestic demand is being satisfied through existing inventory, for example from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and production from foreign sources in Russia and China. At present, Russia is the only major supplier of enriched isotopes with China as the only other major competitor. Therefore, the stability of future supply is a concern for various domestic industrial development and government defense strategies. A stable domestic supply of enriched isotopes can insulate the United States from geopolitical influences arising from the reliance on foreign supply.
The quality of the isotopes produced in an environment absent of third-party quality verification (such as ISO 9001) and the proximity of foreign suppliers to domestic research clients is also a growing concern. Current production of isotopes in the United States is further exacerbated due to the lack of domestic electromagnetic separators and gas centrifuges which are used to produce over half of the global isotope supply. This is compounded by the fact that current centrifuge technology is archaic, slow, costly and susceptible to mechanical failure at high rates of rotation. There are few domestic efforts to develop next generation isotope production technologies and newer experimental technologies only provide incremental improvements that do not out weight the cost of development.
Therefore, there is a need in the field of art for improved systems and methods for the separation and production of enriched stable isotopes.